We have a Victorian attitude to child offenders. It is harmful to them – and, when they reoffend, damaging to everyone

• Kirsty Brimelow KC is chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales

It is said that there can be no truer revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children. The Bar Council of England and Wales has just concluded an expert review of the minimum age of criminal responsibility. At 10, it is the lowest in Europe. We recommend that it is raised to 14.

Society should have moved on since the 1800s, when Charles Dickens railed against the storm cloud of unfairness that gathered over children. However, Dickens’s anger at the law and society, and the harsh treatment of children, remains familiar today. England and Wales are outliers in bringing the criminal justice system to bear on young children who cause harm.

Kirsty Brimelow KC is chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales

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